Businesses on divorce

What sort of issues may affect a family business on divorce?

Businesses form part of the assets to be shared on divorce and are a central part of financial proceedings and discussions on divorce.

When there is a divorce, the family courts – rather than the commercial courts – deal with the issues of the business issues, whether it is a trading firm, a company or a partnership.

The courts routinely ask that businesses and business interests be valued as part of the financial disclosure exercise.

Valuing business interests is extremely difficult. There is a danger that an unrealistic amount of emphasis will be put on the value of the business when dividing up the family assets. This can lead to real problems in practice.